Jüdischer Friedhof, Hannover - Bothfeld

Cemetery description

In the central burial section of the Bothfeld Jewish Cemetery in Hanover, opposite the main entrance, 469 victims of Nazi persecution found their final resting in a mass grave.
At the end of this burial section, there is an obelisk bearing a quotation in Hebrew and German from the Bible (Book of Jeremiah 8:23) that says: ‘If only my head were water and my eyes a fountain of tears, then I would weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people! In memory of more than 4,000 members of our commune who were deprived of their lives at the times of National Socialism.
The burial site is marked by more than 300 gravestones with the first and last names, the dates of birth and death of the victims, and the country of origin - Poland, inscribed upon them. Almost all of the persons buried here were prisoners of the Hannover-Ahlem sub-camp of the Neuengamme concentration camp. The largest group were Polish Jews from the Łódź (Litzmanstadt) ghetto who were first deported to the Auschwitz concentration camp and then transferred to do forced labour in the Continental company and in the Metallwerke Hannover plant in Stöcken. In November 1944, they were transported to Ahlem, where they laboured in the mining adits, out of which asphalt had earlier been mined, adapting them for underground munitions production.
Approximately 750 prisoners of the Ahlem concentration sub-camp died of hunger, cold, disease, torture, inhumane working conditions, or were murdered. Many died during the evacuation march (the so-called ‘death march’) or in hospital just after their liberation by the Americans. These victims as well as the urns (with their descriptions attached to them) containing the ashes of 319 prisoners - Polish Jews, found in 1948 in the Ahlem camp, were interred in the Bothfeld Jewish Cemetery.
Another several dozen graves of Polish Jews who died in the Ahlem camp are located in the north-eastern part of the cemetery. Their graves are marked by matzevot bearing the names and the countries of origin of the deceased.
In total, the Bothfeld Jewish Cemetery holds the last remains of 358 Polish Jews whose identities have been established.

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